The Red Hills

The Red Hills are just down the hill from the Lodge, below Jamestown. We went the first weekend of April to see the wildflowers that make the hills locally famous. A special thank you to Oma and her California Native Plant Society connections for the Latin names for the flowers!

	If you want to see the flowers, you have to load up the car early in the morning!
	You park in the parking lot just off the road, and walk in along a dirt road parallel to the creek.
	Sarah liked the California Poppies that seemed to grow right out of the rocks.
	There was a fire here about 7 years ago that left a lot of burned trees, wildflower seeds that suddenly germinated, and a landscape that looks oddly beautiful.
	It's fun to walk through the creek bed - but you have to avoid the slippery rocks!
	This is Indian Paintbrush, (Castilleja applegatei) from a distance it makes the ground look red.
	"Look there are little flowers growing right here!" It's nice to stop at the little waterfall that is just a short hike from the parking area.
	At the downstream side of the waterfall, the creek winds down to the parking lot. In a few weeks, the water will be gone, the green will be yellow and the flowers will not return until next year.
	Here's a yello Monkey Flower (Mimulus guttatus) growing right out of a crack in the rocks.
	There are a lot of skeletal trees all over the hills.
	There are purple Monkey Flowers (Mimulus douglasii) too!
	We were all ready for a big drink of water and a snack when we returned to the car.

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